Saturday, February 28, 2009

One of the reasons I'm a fan of Black Superheroes is because I identify with heroes that look like me, especially those that have to deal with issues relatively unique to being Black. It's not my only reason but it is the first one that generally comes to mind. I'm also interested in intelligent discourse on the why there should be more and better representation of us in comics and superhero movies. I'm especially interested in any reasonable call to action to effect change in this area. To that end I'll share this video I found on youtube. Let me know what you think.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

I originally ran across the comic book character Ant while she was at Image comics. I was fascinated so I went out to find out more about the her. What I found out is that the story about Ant's creator is interesting in it's own right. According to his myspace page, Mario Gully came up with the idea for Ant while he was incarcerated. While he was in the cell, an ant crawled in and gave him inspiration. When he got out he started as an Independent comic book creator. The character has since been through three comic book companies.READ MORE...

Ant is an African-American girl with bulletproof red skin, super strength, speed and agility as well as various sensory abilities. Her origin is unclear and much of her story is about her searching for clues to her unknown past. I read somewhere that Ant is like the girl next door that can kick your ass. She's no nonsense and relatively down to earth. She's also one of those few Black female Superheroes that is actually shaped like a Black woman. Mario Gully is the African-American owner and creator of Ant who's arrival in comics began at Arcana Studios. The series told the story of a little girl who dreamed that she was the world's greatest hero. The book exceeded expectations and proved to be quite a success. The first issue sold out. The series ran for four issues and it's success brought it to the attention of Image Comics.
Ant moved over to Image Comics and right away began interacting with superheroes like Savage Dragon, and Spawn. The art and story seemed to feel right at home with Image and the series seemed poised to do quite well. Distinct from the previous volume published by Arcana, the story took place years after but acknowledged the previous story. The little girl had grown up and more of her mystery was revealed. Problems began to develop behind the scenes and despite compelling story and artwork the series ended after the 11th issue.Mario Gully's talent enabled him to work on other projects. After some time he decided to bring Ant back to the public and did so through Big City Comics. This latest series is entitled Ant Unleashed and is a more mature comic in imagery and theme. Again it is kept distinct from previous volumes as the story takes place after the others while acknowledging what transpired in them. The last issue seems to be #6 which was published back in 2008.
Publishing challenges aside, each time Ant shows up she commands the room and each series has surpassed the previous in both art and story. I don't know where and when she'll show up again but I'm looking forward to checking her out when she does.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

In DC's Final Crisis #7 we got to glimpse an alternate earth where the President of the United States is not only black but also that world's Superman. The Wonder Woman of that world is also Black and is apparently called "Nubia". Click here to see the page where he's introduced. President Obama did say he was born on Krypton albeit as a joke. The intro for this Black Superman is brief and doesn't really contribute to the main story but damn it was good to see. Should it be surprising to see this happen during Black History month?
Now what we really need is a Black Superhero that's not an offshoot of a White character and yes I am complaining. READ MORE...

I read somewhere that Black Superheros have very generic motivations, that there just isn't enough of a range of characters. I can't say I disagree and I'm not interested in blaming anyone. I'm much more interested in what the solution is. How do we get the major comic book companies to recognize and represent that there are more than just the three or four kinds of Black people than they've shown us so far. Independent comic companies have been able to do it. Why not Marvel and DC? With DC we have the Milestone characters coming into the fold so there's hope there. I'm not complaining about the presentation of Black Superheroes in mainstream comics, (at least not in this particular rant), I'm complaining about the lack of variety.
You want some suggestions? How about a light-skinned Black Superhero? How about a young Black superpowered character that uses his powers for low level criminal activity because it's easier and later gets taken under the wing of a positive Black male Superhero father figure? How about a Black Superhero character whose powers aren't all cool and useful? How about a Black Superhero that can't use his powers much because he's too busy trying to make ends meet? I really could go on.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

February 11th is my birthday and what better way to celebrate it than to discuss my favorite new Black Superhero. He's the Blue Marvel and issue #4 of his book is due out today. I've talked about him before but who better to explain this hero than its creator, Kevin Grevioux. Enjoy!

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

I wrote a post about BlockHedz sometime last year. Well finally this independent project is doing something new I can talk about. They're creating Webisodes as we speak and you can see the trailer online here. All they ask is that you come and watch it. It looks good so far and I'm looking forward to see this roll out. You can find out more on their website.